Fare-box



(No Model.)

L. BEAMAN. FARE BOX.

Patented Feb. 15, I887.

INVENTOR ATTORNEYS.

WITNESSES: wwg fi N. PETERS, Phulc-Lxlhograpllcr. Wishingmn, 11c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE...

TIMOTHY L. BEAMAN, OF KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE.

FARE-BOX.

$PECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 357,756, dated February 15, 1887. Application filed October 20, 1886. Serial No. 216,730. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, TIMOTHY L. BEAMAN, of Knoxville, in the county of Knox and State of Tennessee, have invented new and useful Improvementsin Fare-Boxes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My improvements relate to fare-boxes to be carried by street-railroad cars, omnibuses, or other vehicles, to receive the fares of passengers, and have for their object to prevent abstraction of fares from the box.

The invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts of the farebox, all as hereinafter fully described and claimed.

lteferenceis to be had to the accompanying drawings, formingapart of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional elevation of a fare-box embodying myimprovements. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan View of the fare-boX taken on the line 00 m of Fig. 1, the sinuous pay-chute being omitted. Fig. 3is a perspective View ofthe body of the fare-receiving hopper. Fig. 4 s a perspective view of the pay-chute, and Fig.6 is a sectional plan view of the upper part of the pay-chute and a part of the headblock in which it is fitted.

The present improvement-s relate exclusively to an arrangement of a sinuous paychnte and a hopper which receives the fares therefrom, and both positioned in the upper part of the fare-box.

I represent the entire fare-box in Fig. 1 of the drawings, in order to give a correct idea of the relative arrangement of the sinuous paychute and the hopper with all other parts of the fare-box, many of which, not herein particularly described or claimed, form the subjectmatter of another application for Letters Patent recently filed by me.

The pay-chute A, which is fitted .to the inner top of the head-block B of the fare-box, has a flaring mouth, a, into which the passengers in a horse-car or other vehicle carrying the box will drop their fares. The peculiarity of this pay-chute consists in the twisted or sinuous form of its inner portion, a, which, while not preventing the downward passage through the chute of coin or tickets deposited in the mouth of the chute, will prevent the passage of a wire or other instrument through the chute to abstract fares from the box.

To provide for putting the chute in place I make it in two parts, the inner twisted or sinuous portion, rt, above named, and the outer portion, of, which is fitted into the box headblock B. To secure a firm attachment of the chute at the inside of the fare-box the side edges of the parts a are left somewhat long, whereby they may be bent over at a right angle with the body part of the chute at the inner face of the head-block B, after the part a of the chute is passed into the mortise of the head block, to form lugs 0. Corresponding lugs, D, will be formed on the inner part, a, of the chute, whereby one screw at each side of the chute may be passed through holes E, made through the pairs of lugs OD and into the rear face of the head-block. An angular plate, F, may also be fastened to the top of the part a of the chute and have a hole, f, through which a screw may be passed into the head-block, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. By thus securing the pay-chute at the interior of the fare-box its fastenings cannot be tampered with from outside the box.

Fares deposited in the pay-chute A pass from it into a fare-receiving hopper, G, which is fixed in the upper part of the fare-box, be-.

tween the pay-chute A and the lower farerests, H I J, which receive the fares from the hopper and from each other as they are tilted by lowering their levers h i j, and from the lower fare-rest, J, the fares pass through an opening, K, past hinged doors L M, into the final-deposit drawer N, fitted into or at the bottom of the fare-box. The doors L M are self-cl0sing,to prevent passage of fares from the drawerN should the fare box be inverted, and as described in my prior application.

I particularly describe the fare-receiving hopper G as follows In the construction shown the hopper is formed'of a sheet-metal body portion, 0, and an inclined glass plate, P, the latter receiving the fares directly from the pay-chute. The glass plate P fits against the outer or drivers side or face of the fare box, and preferably against the glass It of the box, and the ends of the plate I? fit the opposite side walls of the box. The upper part of the hopper-body is formed of an outer curved or side wall, 0, and two inwardlyinclined end parts,

0' o, and below these parts 0 0 the hopperbody is made as a closed structure, formed of the lower portion of the wall 0, the opposite end parts, 0 0 and a wall, 0 immediately,

over which the hopper-body has notches p 10, into which the lower edge of theglass plate 1? fits, while the face of the plate lies snugly against the edges of the end parts, 0' 0, of the hopper-body, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings. As the hopper body 0 has an overlooking connection with the glass plate P, which is firmly secured to or in the farebox walls, the only necessary attachment of the hopper-body O to the fare-box may consist of a couple of screws passed through perforated lugs S S on the hopper-body into the walls of the fare-box. If desired, the wall 0 of the hopper-body 0 may be made straight, as indicated by the dotted linein Fig. 1 of the drawings.

It will be noticed that the contracted open mouth 9 of the hopper G, at the lower end of its body part 0, stands entirely clear of all four side walls of the fare-box, and the top of the hopper forms a close joint with the walls of the box. Oonsequently,should the fare-box be inverted with nefarious purpose, the fares which may have been left on the nntilted rests H, I, or J will fall into the space or pocket formed between the walls of the hopper and the side walls of the box, and cannot pass back through the mouth g of the hopper. It will also be noticed that the mouth a of the sinuous pay-chute A also stands clear of the side walls of the box; hence any tickets which may have been paid as fares, and which may stick to the glass plate 1 or other walls of the hopper G, cannot be shaken back or outward through the pay-chute, and it will be impossible to abstract the tickets by an instrument, as it will be quite impossible to insert an instrument through the pay-chute for this pur; pose.

It is obvious that the hopper G may bemade with its parts 0 P in one piece, and of glass, inetal,'or any other suitable material, the construction shown, and herein particularly described, being at present preferred.

The drawings also show a mirror, T, arrangedbeneath the fare-rest H, to reflect to the driver the under side of the coin falling thereon from the hopper G, and show also a bell, U, to be rung by the driver to call for fares of the passengers; also the inner door,V, of the farebox, which is held securely closed by the fare-deposit drawer N, and show, also, various details of a tongued and grooved construction of the walls or frame of the fare-box, allowing the outer glass, R, to be put in place after the parts of the box receive their final finish, and also allowing .easy renewal of the glass should it be broken. features of construction need no further explanation here, as they are fully described in my prior application for Letters Patent above referred to.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A farebox provided with a fare-receiving hopper dividing the box between the pay hole or chute and the fare-rests or final-deposit drawer into upper and lower compart ments, and'having a contracted lower end or month positioned clear of the side walls of the fare-box, and said hopper formed with a contracted body portion, 0, and apl ate, P substantially as shown and described.

2. A fare-box provided with a twisted or sinuous pay-chute having its lower end positioned clear of the side walls of the box, and a fare-receiving hopper placed below the discharge end of the chute anddividing the box between the chute and the fare-rests or finaldeposit drawer into upper and lower compartments, and having a contracted lower end or These last-named month positioned clear of the side walls of the farebox, and said hopper formed with a contracted body portion, 0, and a plate, 1?, substantially as described, for the purposes set forth.

TIMOTHY L. BEAMAN.

lVitnesses:

R. J. RANKIN, O. POWELL. 

